Category: UW Experts in the News

No one could have predicted the massive spread of golden oyster mushrooms in the United States.

The golden oyster mushroom, or Pleurotus citrinopileatus, seems like an innocent and edible fungi, but it has become a rapidly spreading, invasive species throughout the central and northeastern United States.

In the last 15 years, it has been found in moist woodlands throughout Missouri, especially the upper part of the state and in Boone County.

Gas prices have jumped nearly 78 cents a gallon in Madison over the past month, and experts say the increase is driving up grocery costs.

Regular gas is running at $4.57 per gallon on average in Madison, according to AAA.

At Jenifer Street Market on Madison’s east side, co-owner David McKenzie says prices continue to climb, particularly when it comes to produce.

Jon Pevehouse, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who specializes in international relations, discussed the Iranian war, its effects and what its outcome might look like in the United States in an interview with The Daily Cardinal.

The U.S. began bombing Iran in February 2026. The campaign, Operation Epic Fury, was intended to upheave Iranian leadership, destroy their military and end Iran’s nuclear program, according to President Donald Trump.

Questions about racially motivated voting restrictions gained new relevance last week when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a key component of the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA) in Louisiana v. Callais (2026). The decision effectively ended the protections of the VRA’s Section 2, which sought to ensure that voters of color had fair representation in elections. This ruling now opens the door to the potential elimination of majority-minority districts in numerous states.

Wisconsin lost thousands of manufacturing jobs in 2025, driven in part by an aging workforce and hesitancy to expand hiring in an uncertain economy.

Between January 2025 and January 2026, the state’s manufacturing workforce shrank by about 9,500 jobs, falling from 461,100 workers to 451,600, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The manufacturing workforce nationally declined by about 91,000 jobs over the same period.

Backyard poultry have been linked to a multistate outbreak of salmonella, which includes at least five cases in Wisconsin.

Thirty-four cases of salmonella across 13 states have been linked to the outbreak, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A recent decision from a federal appeals court could impact Wisconsin residents looking to get the abortion pill mifepristone from providers in other states.

A Friday decision from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals restricted the mailing of the abortion pill mifepristone. On Monday, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito temporarily halted that ruling for one week.

The sale of unpasteurized milk remains illegal in the dairy state, but more than three dozen bills supporting raw milk have been introduced in states around the nation, according to the Associated Press.

That includes neighboring states to Wisconsin, such as Iowa, Illinois and Michigan, which have introduced laws this year.

University of Wisconsin-Madison professors in food and dairy sciences say that while farmers in Wisconsin take great care of their animals, raw milk can never be guaranteed completely safe.

The visible light spectrum covers colors from violet to red. Each color corresponds to a different wavelength, with green sitting roughly in the middle. Blue and violet have shorter wavelengths. Light rays change direction when they hit particles — a process known as scattering. The sky looks blue because air molecules scatter shorter wavelengths more effectively.

Higher gas prices have some drivers looking at electric vehicles, with searches for the cars rising.

Schoepp Motors says they’ve filled about 25% of their lot with EVs and hybrids in anticipation that gas prices stay high and interest in more sustainable vehicles rises.

Clean Lakes Alliance hosted an event today to explain seasonal changes happening to Madison’s lakes.

A University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher is encouraging people to visit local lakes in May to witness an annual phenomenon that makes the water crystal clear.

Hillary Dugan, an associate professor at the Center for Limnology at UW-Madison, explained the science behind the seasonal clarity. In spring, a large bloom of diatoms, a species of phytoplankton, provides food for zooplankton, tiny organisms that then boom in population.

How is air quality measured and what are the trends in Wisconsin?

NASA has launched its Artemis II mission, sending astronauts around the moon for the first time in more than 50 years — a milestone a University of Wisconsin–Madison expert says could shape the future of human spaceflight.

“There was an old IMAX movie called ‘The Dream is Alive’, narrated by Walter Cronkite about the space shuttle,” said UW–Madison astronomy professor Thomas Beatty. “And I think I watched that a million times with my mom.”

Now, decades later, he’s watching as humans prepare to travel back toward the moon for the first time since the Apollo era.

The next few weeks are anticipated to be a flurry of travel as spring break approaches for both the Madison Metropolitan School District (March 23-27) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (March 28-April 5).

As those rush times approach, airports across the nation have reported hours-long delays due to inclement weather, and longer lines at security checkpoints due to Transportation Security Administration workers not being paid because of the partial government shutdown.

How will that affect travel in and out of the Dane County Regional Airport (MSN)? Michael Riechers, director of marketing and communications for the airport, said “we haven’t seen any noticeable change in our security throughput.”